Caperiver Studios Blog: A very cold Two Harbors Weekend

A couple weekends ago, I drove up to Two Harbors with a friend and we met someone who was going to guide us around the area to get some different images than we would normally get.

Along Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Mn

It turned out to be an awesome weekend and a very cold one as well. We drove up on Friday afternoon and the high was around 6 degrees above zero, but the wind was pretty raw coming off of Lake Superior. It was extremely slippery as everything was ice covered.

We got back to the breakwall in time for sunset and it did not disappoint. I had to run back to the truck as I had left my tripod quick release plate in my bag, but I had plenty of time to get it set up.

Sunset through a piece of stack ice along Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Minnesota, January 31, 2014

Through the Looking Glass

After sunset, we drove back to the hotel and had some dinner and then headed out to Split Rock State Park to get some star images. For those of us that live in large metropolitan areas, you just can't imagine how many starts are really in the sky! Along the way we photographed a wool spin too! What a very cool and cold cold night. The wind was just howling when we were out on Ellingson island in the park.

Christian spinning some wool for Mike and I

Split Rock Lighthouse among the stars

We finally got back to the hotel after midnight and were up the next morning for sunrise where the Stewart River empties into Lake Superior. We didn't get much of a sunrise as it was snowing, but we did have a nice outing, and I only fell into the lake twice.

Monochromatic Morning

After breakfast at Betty's Pies, we headed to Christian's parents and snowshoeing for the first time. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. Sensing that we didn't really need any rest, we then headed to to Stoney Point to catch some afternoon shore images and sunset, and what a sunset it was. We saw a sunset that I've never seen before.

Clouds passing by

God Rays and Golden Sunset Spike

Having had a long day, we decided to go back and have dinner and then get up for one last sunrise before packing up and heading back home.

Getting up before the crack of dawn, we headed out to Split Rock State Park to get sunrise images over Ellingson Island and of course the lighthouse. What we didn't expect was -18 degrees when we got to the park! We found that the bay had iced over during the night and we were getting some awesome sea smoke over the bay which was being lit up by the sunrise. It was a spectacular morning and end of our time in Two Harbors.